Highland Council has said it will hold community meeting on failing Newtonmore school and nursery

Highland Council has told the Strathy that they intend to hold a community meeting in Newtonmore to discuss the village’s failing school.

A local authority spokesperson said: “We have been liaising with the parent council and plan to have a meeting with the community in the coming weeks to share information on progress to date and future planned improvement.”

They have also said that discussions have been held with staff and support will continue to be delivered in the meantime.

The council spokesperson said: “The inspection, which was discussed with the headteacher and representatives from the council’s education service, made a number of recommendations specifically in relation to supporting staff in the school to improve approaches to ensuring equity for all children learning through the medium of Gaelic and English.

"Following the March 2025 inspection, the school has had additional support by senior education officers, and this will continue throughout 2025 to embed the necessary improvements and recommendations from the inspection.

“The Highland Council is committed to providing quality learning environments, experiences and interactions for our pupils.

“The authority and the school are aware of the needs of all their children and take their health, safety and welfare extremely seriously.

“Improvements at the school in line with the Education Scotland timeframes will continue to be implemented, with improvements already underway.

“Action plans are in place to ensure effective planning is consistent for all children and officers are linking closely to work with the school to support staff development and training to ensure these are embedded and sustained.

“It should also be noted that that there are specific challenges around recruitment in Gaelic education which are being addressed.

“Equally, these steps will play a key role in addressing a number of the recommendations made for Newtonmore Primary School.

"Highland Council is proud to have more schools delivering Gaelic than any other local authority.

“Expansion of Gaelic medium education throughout Highland has been an enormous success story and the council continues to work creatively to meet the recruitment challenges that accompany growing demand.

“The council’s Gaelic and workforce planning teams have recently partnered with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Skye to successfully increase the numbers of teachers choosing Highland for their probation year.

“The council’s Gaelic language plan includes a strategic priority to deliver continued promotion and growth in both Gaelic medium education and for Gaelic learner education.

“We are currently actively recruiting for several Gaelic teaching vacancies across the region as we seek to strengthen and widen the language opportunities available to all our young people."

There are currently nine vacancies related to Gaelic teaching advertised by Highland Council with two of them for ‘various locations’.

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